SPRINGFIELD - The already complicated negotiations to settle a lawsuit claiming Bay Path University fired a professor after she ended an affair with her department head just got more complicated.

Or maybe less complicated.

A Northampton lawyer has withdrawn his request to withdraw as counsel for plaintiff Ping Zhao, who has dismissed him and three other lawyers who previously represented her in the 19-month lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

During a hearing in June, Neiman repeatedly advised the plaintiff to either keep Dinsmore or hire another lawyer, but the South Deerfield resident responded, “I can no longer trust lawyers.”

Settlement talks began four months ago to resolve the lawsuit by Zhao, a math professor who has accused the Longmeadow school of sexual discrimination and retaliation related to her firing in November 2011.

Zhao also named professor Gina Semprebon as a defendant, claiming she used her position as department head to pressure Zhao, who is married, into a sexual relationship between 2007 and 2009.

Both the school and Semprebon have denied wrongdoing and contend in court filings that Zhao’s termination was justified and came three years after the affair with her department head ended.

Attorney Stephen Spelman, representing Semprebon, said his client denies all allegations and is prepared to go to trial if a settlement cannot be reached.

In October, Neiman rejected defense motions to dismiss the case, clearing the way for a trial next year.

A native of China, Zhao was hired by Bay Path in August 2005 and terminated in November 2011, according to her lawsuit. As a full-time faculty member, Zhao received excellent evaluations and won the (Bay Path) President’s Award for Excellence in Innovative Thinking in 2007.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Peking University and a doctorate in engineering from Hiroshima University, as well as master’s in statistics from the University of Massachusetts.

In the lawsuit, Zhao claimed that Semprebon made repeated sexual overtures toward her before they began an affair in 2007. As chairman of the math and science department, Semprebon was Zhao’s supervisor and often discussed the power she wielded over Zhao and other faculty members, the lawsuit contends.

In court filings, Bay Path said the termination was based on Zhao’s increasingly disruptive behavior, including a confrontation with a dean that escalated to the point that campus security had to be called.

Three lawyers who previously represented Zhao – Wendy Kaplan of Boston; Gale Glazer of Brookline and Bonita Riggens of St. Petersburg, Fla. – filed a claim with the court on June 24 for part of any settlement to cover their legal fees.

Two of the lawyers, Kaplan and Riggens, said they had been dismissed from the case by Zhao, who told the court her only income comes from partial workers compensation payments.